Kalb is a progressive rock band from Delhi founded in mid-2018 with the idea to create conceptual music and to share music via stories. Currently working on their debut album, they have released their first track called Firdaus.
Talking about their upcoming release, the band gave us a brief insight into the lyrical meaning and production of the song. They said that the song is divided into three phases, which talks about the journey of hope in anyone’s life. Where hope acts like a parabola, the song reflects how we in our daily life struggle to achieve something we love and how hope dwells in our life.
We had a chat with the band in order to get a better understanding of their origin and the creative process that goes into producing their songs. Read below.
1. Tell us about your band. How did it form?
The band was formed in mid-2018 by Himanshu Chaturvedi (vocals and guitar) and Arjun Handa (bass). In Jan 2019, Arindam Roy (Drums) and Sanskar Goel (Keys) joined the band and later in May 2019, the band was complete with the joining of lead guitarist Kabeer Arora.
2. Which bands/artists were your first love and who is your biggest influence?
Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree were our first love. The biggest influence is Steven Wilson. The way he writes his conceptual music and frames it as a musical journey is blissful.
3. You released your debut song called “Firdaus”. Tell us a bit about it.
Firdaus is an Arabic word which means Paradise. The whole song depicts the journey of hope in anyone’s life and how hope acts like a parabola. We have divided the song into three phases.
Phase 1: The person is depressed, aimless/clueless, he/she doesn’t know the idea of right-doing and wrongdoing
Phase 2: A musical journey witnesses Self Introspection
Phase 3: Gets out of his/her comfort zone to seek paradise.
4. What’s your music-making and recording process like?
We create a basic structure of the song based on the story/theme that we have. We jam time to time over it, sometimes the whole band just sits and talks about the nature of the song and its sound. We compose and write it part by part and then record it at the end.
5. Why do you make music? What drives you as a band?
We simply channelize all our thoughts, beliefs and emotions into our music. We really want our listeners to connect with each and every note that we play, with every song that we write. This gives us a push to deep dive and create music for us and for everyone.
6. Which Indian bands or artists do you admire?
We really admire Parvaaz, Avial, Coshish, Baiju Dharmajan. The List is never-ending.
7. Do you think singing in Hindi makes it easier to reach out to the crowd?
Yes, absolutely. It’s important for us to make listeners understand music with lyrics. Since our influences are mostly from western music but the nature of writing is in Hindi and Urdu which makes it easier for listeners to relate our music to themselves.
8. What’s your take on the independent music scene in India?
Firstly, there are a zillion of musicians listening to different kind of music and having different genres and influences. Hence it is pretty interesting to see how one can establish something using such creativity. And secondly, we believe that talent, creativity and hard work are the prerequisites to make your dreams come into reality. Hence we really support the independent music scene.
